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墨書 Inktalez
In the Telecom Building, the news of the destruction of the controlled greenhouse went unnoticed by others, and it did not spread. Most people were indifferent to such matters; it had nothing to do with their survival.
However, within the greenhouse managed by the Telecom Building, there was a piece of information that was extremely important: someone was collecting Garbage Essence Fruit.
Yes, that kind—the most worthless and frustrating type of Essence Fruit that was practically unusable. Now, it had gained real value, trading for one or two units of food each. It was a fair deal; as soon as you arrived there, a stunningly beautiful girl with curves in all the right places would be there to serve you. It was an offer that was hard to refuse, aside from the beautiful girl herself.
With food in hand, one could have a hundred beautiful girls at their service. There was no need to offend anyone; after all, that was the Wealth God, exchanging large quantities of food for garbage.
In this post-apocalyptic world, it felt like a supermarket sale where everything was half price. However, the profit was even more enticing to them; food was more precious than gold or diamonds because it represented their lives.
The entire city was in a frenzy. Even those who could barely move were being supported to eat a few spoonfuls of hot porridge before rushing out to search for Essence Fruit. Upon bringing some back, they would receive ten pieces in exchange for a couple of units of rice.
This was life-saving food; as long as they could still move a little, they would crawl out to look for Essence Fruit.
These fruits were everywhere; perhaps they could be found in the bushes right outside the building. The city's landscaping had been done thoroughly, with mutated plants astonishingly abundant. Most of them were Garbage Essence Fruit, likely carelessly discarded by oblivious survivors into the underbrush.
Even Essence Fruit that had been left for a year still retained its internal vitality. Zheng Yifan could at least exchange it for food that had monetary value. Even if it had been saved since the onset of the apocalypse, one unit of food could still be traded. At least it wouldn't go to waste.
The entire Ancheng was buzzing with excitement because of this news. No one doubted it; people had successfully exchanged their finds for food.
Crowds searching for Essence Fruit could be seen on every street and alley.
“Uncle Luo! Can we find Essence Fruit near the garbage piles in this post-apocalyptic world? Don’t come back empty-handed. We owe them a couple of units of rice porridge!” A skinny boy said to a nearly skeletal figure beside him at a Scrap Collection Station.
“Shattered Doll, just trust me! From a psychological perspective, humans have developed habits in this post-apocalyptic world that lead them to throw trash in dirty and chaotic places. This is a learned behavior; most people will have this habit. All garbage stations are the dirtiest and messiest places—if others don’t notice, we should take a good look,” Uncle Luo replied.
“Moreover, with so many trash bins on the streets, it’s possible that someone has tossed Garbage Essence Fruit into one of them. Purposeful collection is much more efficient than aimlessly searching around,” he added as both old and young scanned the Scrap Collection Station intently for any sign of Essence Fruit.
Many people desired edible Essence Fruit; Garbage Essence Fruit would often be discarded after harvesting. There would always be those who complied with post-apocalyptic management and unconsciously threw their trash into filthy places.
This was also a place that had become dirty and chaotic before the apocalypse, and over time it naturally turned into a garbage dump.
This Scrap Collection Station was just that; the ground was littered with who knows what, and no one bothered to clean it up. With walls surrounding it on all sides, the wind couldn't blow in. Those items remained piled against the walls.
"Look! Here’s one!" someone exclaimed, peeling back a few old newspapers to reveal a whole plastic bag full of Essence Fruits.
All of them were the lowest grade of Essence Fruits, likely discarded by a plantation or a Fellow growing Mutated Plants. Now they had been discovered by them. This amounted to several pounds of food.
The first ones to sell Essence Fruits at Zheng Yifan's shop were mostly capable of producing Advanced Essence Fruits, with generally higher fruit density and larger sizes. They were different; their focus was on any kind of Essence Fruit. As long as it was an Essence Fruit, regardless of quality, they wanted it all!
This information drove those crazed individuals even more insane. People had already begun riding bicycles around the streets, armed with weapons and possessing Superpowers. They would rob anyone carrying large quantities of Essence Fruits, letting go of those with just a few. The Zombies on the streets seemed to catch the scent; suddenly, they erupted into chaos. The Zombies joined in the madness of humanity, who completely ignored their ferocity. When they saw a Zombie, they simply attacked it with their weapons. Even though ordinary attacks didn’t do much damage, when dozens of people jabbed at a Zombie with long spears, even the strongest Zombies would fall. Humans were mad—especially those driven to hunger. Even those who had just exchanged for a meal were frantically searching for more food to stockpile. Those who have never experienced hunger can never understand its terror. When a person reaches the brink of starvation, their sympathetic nervous system becomes excited, their heart races, and their body is in a state of revival. At that moment, when hope is offered to them, they naturally go mad looking for food, akin to rabid dogs.
Essence Fruits on the street were food; grabbing three or four would send them rushing toward makeshift food stalls. Some people had set up porridge stands where one Essence Fruit could be exchanged for a bowl of Rice Porridge. Everyone knew that Rice Porridge expands when heated; a pound of rice could yield much more porridge.
But those driven mad by hunger didn’t care about such details; getting a bowl of porridge was enough to keep them alive while they continued searching for Essence Fruits to stockpile.
After two years, they had endured unimaginable hardships; even if human flesh were cooked and not revealed to them, they would eat without hesitation.
In the direction of the Telecom Building's botanical garden lay a vast ruin; nearly half of the botanical garden had been destroyed. The surrounding structures had all collapsed, and those inside had barely escaped with their lives. Before the external destruction began, Zheng Yifan had already dealt with the Night Wolf. However, the external buildings of the botanical garden could never be repaired; it looked as if it had been completely weathered away, leaving only dust behind. Thousands of Superpowered Individuals gathered at the entrance of the botanical garden conducting various trades—not robbing passersby or selling their own food but genuinely exchanging Essence Fruits. One fruit could be traded for nine units of food directly; if one needed to wait in line, it could take hours—time enough for them to find more Essence Fruits. Most people were unwilling to haggle; those with fewer Essence Fruits sold them readily while those with more partnered up with others to help them queue in exchange for half a unit as a service fee. Such lines were everywhere. No one cared about them; Zheng Yifan didn’t want to either. The only real trader was Nono herself—she didn’t need many people around her; counting and trading food was sufficient. If transactions happened too quickly among the crowd, there wouldn’t be such a sensational scene—people wouldn’t be so eager to exchange or search.
Only by giving them an illusion could they be lured into selling their Essence Fruits more diligently.
The pace was slow as if a turtle were crawling; in less than a minute, perhaps one transaction could be completed per person—only about one hundred transactions could occur in an hour. For hundreds of thousands of Survivors eager to exchange, this was merely a drop in the bucket.
"Leader, let me help! I’ve become a Superpowered Individual now! I can definitely assist!" The girl saved by Zheng Yifan finally woke up. He truly didn’t know what had turned such a lovely girl into such a gaunt figure. After having a hearty meal, her skin and muscles returned completely to normal; she looked adorable like an angel—though still young and not fully developed physically, she was already quite beautiful.
Even the Huang Brothers envied Zheng Yifan's luck in finding such an exquisite girl among those Paupers' dens.
Zheng Yifan had no ulterior motives; he simply wanted the girl to rest and forget the pain of losing her mother.
It seemed that she had transferred all her emotions onto him. Zheng Yifan could feel her absolute reverence; she treated him as if he were a deity, completely obedient to every word he spoke.
This was her only belief after surviving the brink of death.
"Go help if you want, but remember, don't let them take advantage of you, and definitely don't let yourself suffer!" Zheng Yifan said dismissively, waving his hand as he continued to lie among the ruins, gazing at the sun in the sky.
Looking directly at the sun would normally be blinding for most people, and even Zheng Yifan, as a Superpowered Individual, felt its glare. Yet, his eyes could endure it, allowing him to truly see the sun at its most dazzling.
It appeared like a massive white sphere radiating light and heat; humanity depended on it for survival, and plants grew because of it. Even Zombies were reluctant to move at night.
It seemed that the sun provided all living beings with their most primal energy. As Zheng Yifan lay there looking up at the sky, his thoughts gradually sank into the Time-Space Barrier, worrying about those souls who had helped him in his final moments.
Though they were merely manifestations of the Power of Faith solidified, they had genuinely aided him. In his most perilous time, they had willingly sacrificed their gradually developing intellect.
Faced with enemies, they fought fiercely in a mutually destructive manner.
In his mind's eye, he saw men and women dressed in primitive tribal clothing singing and dancing. They wielded few weapons because their arms were mere illusions without any real significance.
Each person's body was semi-transparent; they had exhausted their energy and no longer possessed tangible strength. Death seemed to have opened its arms wide, ready to welcome them into its embrace at any moment.
Singing and dancing, this was the scene Zheng Yifan witnessed within his Time-Space Barrier. It resembled victorious warriors returning from battle; there were thousands of them—this was their true number without any illusion. They seemed to see Zheng Yifan's figure and bowed to him respectfully—not in worship but because they revered Huangdi, the leader of the Yellow Emperor Tribe, not an ordinary person from this Second Vitality Era.
Only one figure slowly knelt down, prostrating herself with tears in her eyes. From her outline, it was clear that she was the girl he had saved. Though her strength was limited, Zheng Yifan could feel that this power was entirely under his control. Even if he commanded her to die, she would do so without hesitation. This power had transformed from mere worship into faith, deeply rooted in her mind.
Struggling on the brink of death? This phrase fit her perfectly. Zheng Yifan seemed like a god granting her new life; what might have been an unintentional act was truly heartfelt. The girl sensed Zheng Yifan's care for her and understood just how much resource she had consumed.
What is the price of the Essence Fruit? In this apocalyptic world, while those Big Shots may not care, ordinary Survivors still value it as their lives. Even a bag or ten bags of Garbage Essence Fruit cannot be exchanged for a single Advanced Essence Fruit. Moreover, she found the bottle of Essence she had consumed; it was a test tube-shaped container, exquisitely made and tightly sealed, clearly a product of meticulous craftsmanship, not just an ordinary Essence Fruit. Consuming it would be a gamble with fate.
"Four Essence Fruits, totaling four pounds of food. Before receiving the food, you must express gratitude to our leader and remember his name. If you cannot recall it during the next transaction, there will be no second sale," the girl demanded imperiously, insisting that they memorize Zheng Yifan's name with no room for leniency.
Zheng Yifan felt a wave of warmth in his heart. Rarely did anyone truly consider him; he had always been the one giving and giving. Today, he finally reaped the fruits of his labor.
When the girl's Power of Faith truly entered Zheng Yifan's body, she naturally understood his name and his needs.
He required a substantial amount of Fortune to become truly powerful. For some reason, she clearly knew that Zheng Yifan desperately needed Essence Fruits and Zombie Crystal s. Garbage Essence Fruits were the best option since the value of Advanced Essence Fruits was too high; it was better to allow those who dared to fight to also enhance their strength.
As for Power of Faith, it was quite easy to comprehend—it was recognition of this person.
By using coercive means, she ensured that these people remembered Zheng Yifan's name at once, paving the way for future development and turning them into followers.
Zheng Yifan needed faith; thus, she was willing to be the first believer and spread that faith.
As she spoke, the man firmly etched Zheng Yifan's name in his mind, even revealing a hint of admiration in his heart because he knew that his food was granted by this kind person named Zheng Yifan.
This was her strategy—transforming transactions into acts of kindness and placing herself on a moral high ground. Zheng Yifan could not do such things himself; she was perfectly suited for it. (To be continued...)
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